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"How much did Father Christmas's sled cost? Nothing, it was on the house."

This joke is greeted with moans that echo through a warehouse in London.

We're at a joke-testing session with a firm that makes supplies for gatherings. Its repertoire features Christmas crackers.

The company's founder grins, nearly sheepishly at the gag. But the joke has made the cut and will appear in future crackers.

"The success is gauged by the joke by the number of groans and the loudness of the groans around the table," the founder explains.

The key to a great Christmas cracker joke is not the same as a stand-up joke per se. It is entirely about the setting - in this case, the shared laughter of the Christmas dinner table with grandparents, kids and possibly neighbours.

"The goal is for the gag to be a thing that brings the child in harmony with the 80-year-old," she states.

The Science Behind Communal Amusement

Gathering to experience shared laughter is not only nothing new, experts say, it is likely to be older than humanity.

"So when you are chuckling with others at the Christmas table you are dropping into what's very likely a truly primordial mammal social sound," explains a neuroscience expert.

Communal amusement, she explains, aids in make and maintain social bonds between individuals.

Researchers have found that a absence of these social exchanges can significantly harm both psychological and bodily well-being.

"Those you converse with, and share laughter with, it results in enhanced amounts of endorphin uptake," she continues.

These natural chemicals are the brain's "feel-good compounds" and are released both to alleviate tension and discomfort and in response to enjoyable experiences, such as laughing with friends over a truly terrible Christmas cracker gag.

"It's not simply chuckling at a foolish pun with a Christmas cracker," she states. "You are actually performing a lot of the truly important work of making, maintaining the social bonds you have with the people you care about."

What Occurs In the Mind?

But what is actually taking place within the mind when we listen to a gag?

An awful lot happens in reaction to humour, it turns out.

Using brain scanning technology, a type of neural imager which indicates which parts of the brain are working harder, researchers have been able to map the areas that get more blood.

The research entails scanning the brains of healthy subjects and then exposing them to a database of funny words, accompanied by either a neutral sound, or pre-recorded chuckles.

"During the study we got a really fascinating pattern of activation," notes the neuroscientist.

A gag activates not just the areas of the mind responsible for hearing and interpreting language, but also brain regions associated with both planning and initiating movement and those linked to vision and memory.

Put all of this together, and people listening to a joke have a complex set of brain reactions that support the laughter we experience.

The Contagious Power of Laughter

Scientists found that when a humorous word is paired with chuckles there is a stronger response in the mind than the identical word when accompanied by a neutral sound.

"This was in areas of the mind that you would use to move your expression into a grin or a laugh," she explains.

It indicates we are not just reacting to funny words, they are reacting to the laughter that accompanies them.

Laughter, according to the expert, can be contagious.

So what does this mean for the laughter heard around a Christmas table?

"People laugh harder when you are familiar with others," she says, "and laughter increases further when you are fond of them or love them."

When it comes to Christmas cracker puns, she explains, the feel-good factor is more likely to be caused not by the gag in itself, but from the reaction to it.

"The laughter is key. The gag is the terrible Christmas cracker joke, and it's just a reason to laugh together."

The Quest for the Ideal Cracker Joke

Is it possible to find the ultimate gag?

Probably not, but that has not prevented researchers from attempting to.

In 2001, a professor set up a scientific search for the planet's funniest joke.

Over tens of thousands of jokes submitted, with ratings provided by hundreds of thousands of participants globally, he has a better understanding than many as to what succeeds and what fails.

The ideal festive cracker joke must be brief, he explains.

"They must also need to be poor gags, jokes that cause us to moan," he adds.

The more "terrible" the joke, he says the better.

"This is because if nobody finds it funny – it's the gag's fault, not your own.

"What's interesting about the Christmas cracker jokes is that not one person considers them funny.

"It creates a shared experience at the gathering and I believe it's lovely."